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Standard & Poor's Announces Change in S&P/Topix Index

8 March 2000

Standard & Poor's Announces Change in S&P/Topix Index

     NEW YORK, March 7 Standard & Poor's will make the
following changes in the S&P/TOPIX Index after the close of trading Thursday,
March 9, 2000:
    Following its placement of shares to General Motors, the investable weight
factor for Fuji Heavy Industries will be changed from .82 to .65.
    The S&P TOPIX Index covers the Japanese market. The S&P TOPIX Index
contains 150 constituents and provides geographic and economic diversity over
10 industry sectors.  The index is calculated real-time by Reuters.
    Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., provides
financial, economic and investment information and analytical services to the
global financial community.  S&P calculates and maintains the S&P Global
Index, which includes the S&P Euro and Euro Plus for Continental Europe, the
S&P/TSE 60 for Canada, the S&P 500 for the U.S., the S&P/TOPIX for Japan, the
S&P Asia Pacific 100, the S&P United Kingdom 150 and the S&P Latin America
40.  S&P also publishes the S&P MidCap 400, S&P SmallCap 600, S&P
SuperComposite 1500 and S&P REIT Composite for the U.S. and the S&P/TSE
Canadian MidCap and S&P/TSE Canadian SmallCap Indices.  Over $1 trillion is
indexed to S&P indices.

    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading information
services provider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance, the
professions and government.  The corporation employs 16,500 people located in
more than 400 offices in 32 countries.  Sales in 1999 were $4.0 billion.
    Company additions to and deletions from an S&P equity index do not in any
way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.